This invention relates to a vortex separator operating as a dust particle separator to reduce equipment maintenance, as in engine intake air filters, especially for gas turbines and other internal combustion engines.
Multi-stage cyclone and vortex separators are usable as dust filters whenever contamination of the air with dust particles is uneven and the degree of filtering is to be uniformly high for all components. Such separators function to reduce equipment maintenance, as in engine intake air filters, especially for gas turbines and other internal combustion engines operating near the ground in especially dry and dusty conditions, such as during the operation of construction-type vehicles or military-type vehicles. Moreover, separators of the centrifugal type operating as dust filters may be designed to fulfill special requirements regarding low pressure losses and the occupation of small spaces when used to reduce equipment maintenance.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 1 576 517 discloses a cyclone separator of the centrifugal-type operating as a dust filter and having two cyclone inserts. The air to be filtered enters the separator and is rotated in a first direction after which it is reverted twice in counterdirections as the air moves axially through an annular space, and is finally freed of its rotation in a flow diverter.
A considerable disadvantage of this type of arrangement lies in the twice reversal of the direction of flow and in the concentric counterflow in the annular space which causes a considerable loss in pressure. The second cyclone insert lying downstream of the first cyclone insert decreases the rotational impulse of the air current and thus does not contribute to the radial acceleration of the dust particles which is required for separation.
Centrifugal-type dust filter systems of this nature which combine the cyclone or spiral shaped dust filters with a system of different deflecting devices, only becomes suitable as a dust filter system upon the inclusion of an additional feature such as an oil bath, paper or fiber filter as a fine-mesh filter.
However, these fine-mesh filters present a drawback in that the separated contaminations remain in the filter medium. The filters must therefore be replaced periodically which is time consuming and costly and result in equipment downtime when used as dust filters with an internal combustion engine. Moreover, these filters require a considerably large construction volume relative to centrifugal dust filters having the same air throughout and loss of pressure.